Homebirthers help

[LittleAurora]

Those who have delivered at home what are your must haves?

I'm planning on a home water birth but want to be prepared for dry land birth as well.

What was the mess like? Planning on delivering the placenta on dry land. Is it very messy? My OH is sqeemish as heck!😂

We got some unused duvets so I’d have somewhere nice to sit that wasn’t just a plastic sheet or an inco pad. Would really recommend. We still used plastic sheets for the floor and sofa but under the duvet. Midwives brought inco pads with them.

Before birth there wasn’t any mess other than my waters breaking. There was the initial gush and then more waters came out with every contraction, I just kept a towel between my legs for that part.

I gave birth in the pool and the water was still clear after baby was born. It only looked like there was blood in it after I delivered the placenta. I’m guessing there’d be a reasonable amount of blood if you do birth it outside of the pool.

The duvets came in useful when I sat in the sofa afterwards and when I was checked for any tears/enjoyed skin to skin and had a cup of tea. There was some blood but it wasn’t pouring out or anything.

Neither me nor DH had to deal with any mess. The midwives got me settled in bed afterwards and they emptied the pool, folded it away into its bag and binned the plastic sheets and duvets. When I next went downstairs you wouldn’t even know someone had given birth down there.

Best of luck with your birth OP x

I had 2 homebirth, can't recommend them enough. 3rd was a hospital birth for various reasons, but a good one, phew!

My absolute no 1 recommendation is a couple of shower curtains, not plasticy ones but fabric ones. We got them from Asda, white waffley ones, I think about £4 each. We laid one over the bed and one over the sofa. They were waterproof but not noisy, and comfortable to be on. They held all the mess really well, then just rolled up and into the bin afterwards. Hope that helps!

Good luck, homebirths are amazing. Being tucked up in your own bed with your baby and a cup of tea after is just magical.